


stop running from love

by kihyuks



Series: hyungwon bingo [4]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - College/University, Confessions, Fluff, M/M, hyungwon is bad at confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19794193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: hyungwon discovers his crush, jooheon, is going to confess to his own crush at the end of the week. realising he's running out of time to confess his feelings, hyungwon attempts to be brave and tell jooheon how he feels before he loses his chance forever. it doesn't quite go how he planned.(or, the five times hyungwon tries to confess his feelings to jooheon but fails and the one time jooheon confesses to hyungwon instead.)





	stop running from love

**Author's Note:**

> for the **brave/time** squares.
> 
> I FEEL LIKE IVE BEEN WRITING THIS FOREVER BUT ITS FINALLY DONE hvae some soft hyungheon hehe
> 
> honestly this kinda sucks n im not super proud of this but like i feel like ive been writing it for Too long n im kinda sick of looking at it so im just posting it as it is in the hopes that other ppl will enjoy it at least wjkhjfkewhjf

**1\. monday**

“I think I’m going to finally tell my crush I like them.”

Hyungwon’s heart sinks. Jooheon has a crush? Why did he not know about this? And not even just that, Jooheon’s going to confess?

Thoughts start racing through Hyungwon’s mind. Debates about whether to confess to Jooheon before he confesses to his own crush, to take his chance.

Because, you see, Hyungwon’s had a very big (and very obvious) crush on Jooheon for the past two years. Everyone seems to know about it, all from just seeing Hyungwon and Jooheon interact. Everyone except for Jooheon, that is.

As Hyungwon feels himself start to panic, in a rut about which option to choose, he hears his name mentioned.

“Hyungwon, are you okay? You look a bit worried,” Jooheon says, concern all over his face.

Hyungwon nods, trying to put a smile on his face. “I just started panicking I forgot to lock my door.”

“You didn’t even leave last,” Hoseok mutters, only loud enough for Hyungwon to hear.

Hyungwon shushes him. Hoseok is a great roommate and one of his best friends, but he doesn’t pick up on when not to say things sometimes.

“So, Jooheon,” Minhyuk begins, smiling at him, “when are you going to tell them?”

Jooheon taps his chin like he’s in thought. “At the dance at the end of the week, probably.”

Okay. That gives Hyungwon five days, including today, to confess.

“Oh, Hyungwon,” Jooheon says, “are you coming to the dance?”

Well, Hyungwon isn’t really interested in going to a dance, it’s not his type of thing, but Jooheon looks so hopeful, and Hyungwon doesn’t want to let him down. “Yeah, of course.”

The way Jooheon’s entire face lights up with a smile makes it worth it agreeing to go.

* * *

Hyungwon isn’t focusing on his lecture at all. The lecturer is droning on and on about some topic Hyungwon isn’t even able to name because he’s been too busy thinking about how to confess to Jooheon.

He knows that he has no chance. Jooheon has a crush on someone else. But still, he wants to at least take his chance to tell Jooheon before Jooheon tells his own crush about his feelings and inevitably ends up dating them. Because Hyungwon doesn’t know why anyone would reject Jooheon.

Hyungwon decides to come up with a plan for confessing to Jooheon. There’s many ways he could go about it. He could do some big gesture, something like writing a song for him, but those seem like too much. He could get someone else to tell Jooheon, but that’s the coward’s way out and Jooheon would most likely just think it’s a prank. That leaves the most obvious choice, just tell Jooheon how he feels.

Hyungwon can do that. He can tell Jooheon how he feels to his face without freaking out. Absolutely. There’s no chance that could go wrong.

...He doesn’t think he can do that.

Hyungwon looks down at his blank pad of paper which should be filled with notes from his lecture and an idea springs to mind. He can write Jooheon a letter and drop it in his locker. That way, when Jooheon rejects him it doesn’t have to be straight to his face, because if he hides in his room long enough Jooheon will just have to text it to him. Then, Hyungwon can avoid him forever.

It sounds like a good plan, he thinks.

Hyungwon looks up at the clock and sees there’s still ten minutes left of his lecture. More than enough time for him to write the letter before his lecture ends, and then he can drop it in Jooheon’s locker quickly before Jooheon goes there for the end of the day.

_Dear Jooheon_

_I’m afraid to tell you in person, so I’m writing you this dumb letter to tell you I’ve had a crush on you for the past two years. I know you don’t feel the same, but I wanted to tell you anyway._

_Love,_  
_Hyungwon_

It’s not a good letter by any means, but it gets to the point. Pleased with his completed (but terrible) letter, he folds it up and slips it into his pocket to drop off after his lecture finishes.

A few minutes later, his lecturer ends the lecture and Hyungwon is packing up his things. He goes quickly, not wanting to waste any time, because even though Jooheon’s final lecture is in a building much further from his locker than Hyungwon’s, he still wants to make sure he gets there and drops the letter in before Jooheon gets there and sees him.

He hurries from his building to the one with all of their lockers. There’s a light drizzle and he sighs. It’s been raining a lot recently. There are puddles everywhere and Hyungwon has stepped in one too many recently and ended up with soaked feet. It’s not an enjoyable experience in the slightest.

Hyungwon pulls his phone out of his pocket intending to check the time. In doing so, his letter for Jooheon falls out.

Straight into a puddle.

Hyungwon stops walking and looks down at it as it sinks lower into the water.

He stares for a while, then sighs and turns back in the other direction, back towards his dorm.

He takes it as a sign from the universe that confessing through a letter is a bad idea. Or maybe, confessing in general is a bad idea.

Hyungwon decides, as he walks through the rain, everything getting soaked because he didn't bring an umbrella, that he’s going to try again tomorrow. Just not with a letter this time.

**2\. tuesday**

A new day, a new chance to finally tell Jooheon how he feels. It’s strange, really, that Hyungwon is finally confessing. He feels like he’s been keeping it a secret for so long.

Well, if he ever manages to confess.

Hyungwon is waiting for Hoseok to finish getting ready so they can walk to university together. He’s sitting on his bed, playing with the corner of his phone case, when an idea pops into his mind. He can just text Jooheon and tell him how he feels. It’s more personal than his failed letter idea, but it also doesn’t require Hyungwon having to look at Jooheon’s face.

He won’t do it now, knowing Jooheon is already on his way to university. He can do it at lunch. Hide out in the library and text him from there. It’s a good plan.

“I’m ready to go,” comes Hoseok’s voice as he appears at the doorway.

Hyungwon nods and joins Hoseok and they head to university together.

“I think Kihyun said he’ll be in the cafe,” Hoseok says when their campus is in sight.

Hyungwon hums. They’re pretty early, as usual, as Hyungwon likes to buy a coffee before he goes to any lectures. Occasionally, some of their friends meet them, usually Kihyun as he doesn’t mind being up early, and it seems like today will be one of those days.

Upon reaching the cafe, Hyungwon is shocked to see that not only is Kihyun there, but Jooheon and Changkyun have made it too.

“You’re actually here on time?” Hyungwon jokes as he sits down at the table, Hoseok having gone to order drinks for the two of them.

Changkyun narrows his eyes. “Are you insulting me, Chae Hyungwon?”

Hyungwon shrugs.

Hoseok appears soon after with their drinks and Hyungwon sighs happily when he finally gets to take a drink of his coffee. He’s been needing this all morning to both wake him up and warm him up.

“So,” Jooheon starts, stifling a yawn, “anyone else ready to go to sleep already?”

Everyone laughs at that and voices their agreement.

The conversation continues from there until they have to go to their respective lectures.

* * *

The library is surprisingly quiet considering it’s lunchtime. Normally, it’s filled with people and Hyungwon struggles to find a seat, especially around lunch time when many people go to finish last minute assignments for their afternoon lectures.

Hyungwon won’t complain, though, because it means he can take one of the comfortable seats on the top floor. Those are his favourite seats because they’re more like mini sofas than actual chairs, but more often than not people have already claimed their place on them and Hyungwon is forced to sit in one of the other, less comfortable seats.

He shuffles around, making sure to get himself into the prime comfortable position, then pulls his phone out of his bag.

It’s now or never, it feels like, on telling Jooheon how he feels. Hyungwon musters up as much confidence as he can manage and opens up his chat with Jooheon.

His fingers hover over the keyboard, trying to figure out the best way for him to word what he wants to say. After a while of thinking, he decides on keeping it simple, with a ‘hey jooheon i just wanted to tell you i really like you’.

Seconds later, he deletes everything he’s typed. It doesn’t seem like what he wants to say. It doesn’t convey it well enough.

Over the next ten minutes, Hyungwon spends the time typing out and deleting multiple messages to Jooheon, trying to find the right words to convey his feelings.

After many failed attempts, he thinks up the perfect message. As he goes to type it in, the screen goes black and Hyungwon groans.

He tries the power button, but to no avail.

Then, he remembers he forgot to charge his phone overnight. It must’ve died on him.

Hyungwon drops his phone into his lap and puts his head in his hands in exasperation. These confession attempts could only go so wrong for him.

After a while of sitting there, head in hands, cursing his own existence, Hyungwon hears someone cough. He looks up only to spot Jooheon’s smiling face right above him.

“I was wondering why you didn’t come to lunch and figured I’d find you here.”

Hyungwon coughs awkwardly. “Yeah. Just wanted to relax, you know?”

Jooheon nods in understanding. “Do you mind if I join you?” He gestures to the empty seat beside Hyungwon.

“Sure.”

Jooheon pulls out his phone and Hyungwon can see out of the corner of his eye that he’s typing on it. Hyungwon simply plays with his phone, flipping it over and over in his hands to give him something to do.

After a few minutes of typing, Jooheon looks over at Hyungwon frowning. “What’s wrong with your phone?”

“I forgot to charge it so it died.”

Jooheon rolls his eyes but smiles. “Do you need to borrow a charger? I have my portable one.”

Hyungwon nods in relief.

Jooheon hands over his portable charger and Hyungwon takes it with a thankful smile.

When his phone comes back on, it opens up to the last screen he’d been on. Which just so happens to be his messages thread with Jooheon. While Jooheon is right next to him.

Hyungwon exits out of the app quickly, hoping Jooheon doesn’t notice.

Unfortunately for Hyungwon, he does.

“Were you texting me?” he asks, curious.

Hyungwon swallows. He knows he can’t tell the truth, as soon as his phone died he lost all his confidence to tell Jooheon how he feels, so he needs an excuse. “Oh, yeah. I was just going to text and ask if you want to get pizza with me on Friday at lunch?”

Jooheon grins at him. “It’s a date.”

If Hyungwon’s heart rate increases and his cheeks turn red at Jooheon’s words, well, that’s his business.

**3\. wednesday**

After a long day of lectures and tests, Hyungwon is more than ready to sleep. It’s a bit too early, though, only being 8pm, so he decides to watch a movie before he does.

Going into the kitchen in his rather unflattering pyjamas, Hyungwon digs through the cupboards looking for some popcorn that he knows they have stashed away somewhere.

It takes a while, but he comes across a lone bag of popcorn in their cutlery drawer. Hyungwon has no idea how or why it ended up in there, but he doesn’t question it too much and simply puts the popcorn into the microwave and sets it for two minutes as the instructions state.

While his popcorn is being prepared, Hyungwon sets up his bed for the ideal comfy movie watching setup. He digs out a bunch of his extra blankets and pillows to make it even more comfortable. He sets up his laptop onto Netflix and then hears the microwave beep.

After emptying the popcorn bag into a bowl, he brings it back into his room and gets into his bed.

Hyungwon makes it almost the whole way through the movie, already having finished his popcorn and starting to doze off when his phone starts ringing.

Hyungwon tries to peek at the caller without moving, but he can’t see, so with a sigh he reaches over and grabs it. Seeing it’s Jooheon calling, he answers with no hesitation.

“Hey, Honey.”

“Hi, Wonnie,” Jooheon replies. He talks slowly and sounds sleepy and Hyungwon has to wonder why he even called instead of sleeping.

He asks Jooheon this, to which Jooheon replies, “I wanted to talk to you. We didn’t get to see each other today.”

“I know, sorry. It’s been a busy day.”

Jooheon hums on the other end of the line. “Not upset. Just missed you.”

It makes Hyungwon’s cheeks warm, hearing those words. He’d missed Jooheon too, obviously, and it’s nice to know that he’s not the only one. To feel as cared for back as he cares about Jooheon.

Not that he thinks Jooheon doesn’t care for him, obviously. He knows his friends care for him as he cares for them, but there’s something a bit more special about having it validated in words, especially from Jooheon who Hyungwon just likes _so_ much.

“Missed you too. How was your day?”

Jooheon recounts what had happened in his day, including a story about Changkyun saying something embarrassing in a lecture which has the both of them in fits of giggles laughing.

Hyungwon smiles to himself as he listens to Jooheon speak. He’s just telling Hyungwon about mundane things, like what he ate for lunch and how he spotted someone he knew in high school, but to Hyungwon it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Anything Jooheon talks about Hyungwon thinks is the most interesting thing, because Jooheon is interesting, and all of his words captivate Hyungwon.

There’s a lull in conversation and Hyungwon decides now is the perfect time to finally confess. His exhaustion makes his fear go down.

“Jooheon, I—“

He’s cut off by another incoming call on his phone. Hyungwon pulls the phone away from his ear with a frown and sees Hoseok is calling.

Hoseok never calls Hyungwon.

Hyungwon puts the phone back to his ear. “Fuck, sorry, Hoseok’s calling so he probably needs something. I have to go.”

“Mm, it’s okay. Goodnight.” Jooheon sounds like he’s going to fall asleep any second.

“Goodnight, Honey. Sleep well.”

Hyungwon hangs with a smile, staring at his phone with rosy cheeks before it starts ringing again, Hoseok’s name flashing up on the screen. He answers and puts it back to his ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, Hyungwon. I’ve lost my keys so I can’t get in.”

Hyungwon rolls his eyes, but fondly. He can never be truly mad at Hoseok. “I’ll come let you in.”

“Thank you.” Hoseok hangs up with that.

Hyungwon reluctantly leaves his comfortable cocoon of blankets and pillows to go open their front door.

As expected, Hoseok is standing there, looking sheepish.

“Why didn’t you knock?” Hyungwon asks as he starts to walk back to his room.

He hears the door click behind him before Hoseok replies. “I didn’t want to be loud and wake anyone up.”

Considerate, as always.

Hyungwon can’t be mad, not really. He’s been locked out far more times than Hoseok ever has. He’s a little disappointed he needed to cut his call with Jooheon short, but the other boy sounded like he needed to sleep, anyway.

“Goodnight, Hoseok,” Hyungwon says as he enters his room to get to sleep himself.

As he’s lying there, eyes closed, about to drift off, he realises he never got his confession out.

**4\. thursday**

Hyungwon decides to walk a different way to university, a detour through the high street. He doesn’t have a reason for it, really, he just wants a change of scenery for once.

As he meanders down the street, passing by all of the little shops, most of which he doesn’t even think he’s seen before, he spots a small cake shop and an idea springs to mind.

Without a second thought, he enters the shop, a bell chiming as he does so. There’s a young man behind the counter who smiles at him as he walks over and says, “Welcome.”

Hyungwon returns his smile and then turns his attention to the cakes. There are mostly cupcakes of varying flavours and colours and Hyungwon considers buying some of those when he spots a bright yellow, larger cake with tiny honey bees decorating the top. The middle of the cake is left blank for a message to be added and Hyungwon thinks it’s perfect for what he’s planning.

The price tag is a little high, but Hyungwon decides it’s worth it for Jooheon, even if he is a broke university student.

“This one, please,” he points to the cake he’s picked out.

The man behind the counter nods and slides the cake out of the display. “Would you like a message on it?”

“Um— Yes, please.” Hyungwon clears his throat, feeling awkward, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Can it say ‘I like you’, please?”

The man smiles and nods, turning away from Hyungwon to work on adding his message. “Planning a confession?” he asks, making light conversation.

Hyungwon hums and feels his cheeks heat up even further, if that’s possible. “Yeah.”

The worker doesn’t ask anything else, for which Hyungwon is thankful. He simply finishes up decorating the cake, puts it in a box and slides it towards Hyungwon.

Hyungwon pays for the cake with a wince, trying not to think about how he’s now going to have no money for the rest of the month, then bids the worker goodbye and sets off to university.

He realises, walking down the road with the box in his hands, that he’s going to have to carry it around all day because Thursdays are Jooheon’s busy day and they won’t get a chance to see each other.

* * *

After lugging the cake around university all day and having to deal with far too many curious stares and questions about what’s inside, Hyungwon is finally waiting to see Jooheon. He doesn’t have long to see him, he has to head to a restaurant to meet his parents fairly soon, but he has enough time to hand Jooheon over his cake and still make it on time. At least, he hopes.

Unfortunately, Hyungwon’s been sitting at the table in this cafe for fifteen minutes with still no sign of Jooheon. He’d received a text earlier about Jooheon needing to speak to his lecturer before he came to see Hyungwon, but nothing since. Hyungwon can only assume he’s been caught up talking.

Hyungwon doesn’t want to be impatient, but he has a bus to catch in ten minutes and the walk from the cafe is at least eight, so with a sigh he gets his things and decides to leave the cafe. He can just text Jooheon to let him know on the bus.

As he’s about to leave, the door swings open towards him and a flustered Jooheon comes into view. Jooheon looks up at him, a pout on his face. “I’m too late, aren’t I?” He sounds so sad that Hyungwon is tempted to turn back around and sit down and pretend he doesn’t have somewhere to be just to make Jooheon happy.

Sadly, he knows he can’t be late to see his parents. “I’m sorry, I have to go meet my parents and I’m late for the bus.”

Jooheon nods, the pout still in it’s place. “We’re still on for lunch tomorrow, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

They say their goodbyes and Hyungwon ends up speed walking to the bus stop, just barely making it on time.

It’s when he’s finally sitting down on the bus that he realises he still has the cake in his hands and he missed yet another chance to confess to Jooheon.

**5\. friday**

Today is the day. It has to be. The dance is this evening and if Hyungwon doesn’t confess before then he never will. He needs to tell Jooheon before Jooheon confesses to his own crush. Before Hyungwon loses his chance forever.

Lunchtime. That’s when he’ll do it. He doesn’t have some elaborate plan this time. He’s just going to come out and say it to Jooheon’s face. He’ll have to deal with the rejection face to face, but it’s just what he’ll have to do.

He dressed himself a little nicer than usual, wearing jeans for once and not sweatpants. Not that it really makes a difference, Jooheon has already seen him turn up to university wearing pyjamas more times than he can count. But still, he wants to at least try and make an effort.

It’s nearing close to the end of his final lecture of the day, lucky enough to finish at noon on Fridays. Only Jooheon shares his luck, having a single lecture at 10am, the rest of their friend group stuck in lectures until late in the day.

It at least ensures that they’ll have no interruption when they go out for lunch.

Hyungwon watches the clock, watches as the seconds tick down until his lecture ends and he can go meet Jooheon.

Watching the clock only seems to make time pass by slower, but Hyungwon can’t stop himself. He just wants to go and see Jooheon already.

“Okay, you can go,” his lecturer announces.

Hyungwon packs his things away as quickly as he can manage and speed walks out of the lecture theatre.

He continues with his fast pace, wanting to get there as soon as possible so he can spend the maximum time with Jooheon he can.

He’s also just really damn hungry and can’t wait to devour a pizza.

After the ten minute walk to the pizza place, Hyungwon’s legs protesting him walking any more because he walked so fast, Hyungwon is even more ready to eat.

His stomach grumbles as he enters the restaurant, scanning over all the tables. He spots Jooheon in the back corner, doing something on his phone.

Hyungwon approaches him with a smile, waving when Jooheon looks up at him.

“Hey,” Jooheon greets as Hyungwon slips into the seat opposite him. “I already ordered for the both of us so we don’t have to wait as long.”

Hyungwon’s stomach grumbles again and he smiles sheepishly when Jooheon starts laughing.

“I guess I made the right choice.”

They fall into conversation about anything and everything that comes to mind, Hyungwon cracking jokes here and there just so he can hear Jooheon’s laughter which he loves so much.

Their pizza arrives to the table and they both dig in, the conversation ending for the moment to give them time to enjoy and savour their food.

Hyungwon looks over at Jooheon and notices he has some sauce by the corner of his lip. Without a second thought, he reaches over and wipes it away with his thumb.

It hits him a few seconds later what he’s just done. He pulls his hand away quickly like he’s been burnt and diverts his eyes away from Jooheon’s face.

They sit in silence.

Hyungwon can only take it for so long until he looks back to Jooheon, only to see his cheeks painted red and his jaw slightly dropped, his mouth forming a little o-shape.

Jooheon snaps his mouth shut when they make eye contact, somehow going even redder.

Hyungwon decides that now is the time to do it. Now is the time to confess.

He feels his palms begin to sweat with the anxiety and his heart is beating so fast and it feels so loud in his ears he’s almost convinced the whole restaurant can hear it.

He opens his mouth, the words on the tip of his tongue, ready to spill out.

“What’s up, losers. Guess who just got an email saying their only lecture they had left today is cancelled?” comes Changkyun’s voice from behind Hyungwon.

Hyungwon barely represses his groan. Changkyun really does pick the worst times to show up.

He slides into the extra chair at their table and steals a slice of Hyungwon’s pizza.

“God, this is so good,” he says with a mouthful of pizza.

Hyungwon rolls his eyes at Changkyun’s lack of manners and tries to engage in the conversation he starts, but he feels down, sad.

His last chance to confess to Jooheon was just taken from him, and now he knows he’ll never be able to tell him.

**+1. the dance**

The dance is boring. After Hyungwon’s fifth failed attempt at confessing to Jooheon, he’s felt pretty down in the dumps. It isn’t helped by the knowledge that Jooheon’s crush is here, at the dance, and Jooheon’s going to confess.

Hyungwon slumps onto the table in his sadness. He’s really missed his chance. Even though he knew he had no chance, he still wanted to at least tell Jooheon, but he didn’t even manage that. He really ended up running out of time after two years of pining.

The song changes to a ballad, the singer singing about love and Hyungwon groans. This is the worst time possible for a song like this to come on.

He doesn’t even know where his friends are. They all disappeared off to dance, leaving Hyungwon alone to deal with his sadness at the table they’d claimed as their own. Not that he really minds. He doesn’t really even enjoy dances, he only came because Jooheon asked him to.

Hyungwon pushes himself up off the table back into a sitting position and grabs his half empty cup of beer. He throws it back, grimacing at how warm it is, then returns to laying over the table in pity.

As Hyungwon is wallowing in his sadness, he hears the scrape of the chair to his right across the floor. Not wanting to be rude, he lifts his head to look at the person, noticing that it’s Hyunwoo, nods, then drops his head back to the table.

“How are you holding up?” Hyunwoo asks.

Hyungwon simply groans in reply.

“I think Jooheon’s looking for you, by the way.”

Hyungwon lifts his head back up at that and looks at Hyunwoo to confirm he’s not joking. Hyunwoo looks serious as ever, and it confuses Hyungwon. “Isn’t he meant to be confessing to his crush?”

Hyunwoo shrugs. “I didn’t ask. I just know he’s looking for you.”

Hyungwon feels his heart skip a beat in a small sense of hope that maybe, just maybe, he’s had it wrong this whole time and Jooheon does share his feelings. He quickly quells that thought. It’s such a small possibility he doesn’t even want to entertain it.

“He can find me. I haven’t moved from this table the whole time.” Hyungwon, once again, slumps over the table.

He doesn’t know how much longer he lays there over the table, slightly tipsy from all the warm beer he’s ended up consuming. He doesn’t even notice when Hyunwoo leaves, too caught up in his own thoughts.

The scraping of that same chair brings him back to reality.

“I’m fine, Hyunwoo. You don’t need to check on me.”

“I’m not Hyunwoo.”

Hyungwon finally looks up at that.

There Jooheon is sitting, looking absolutely stunning (not that Hyungwon didn’t already think about that when he first saw Jooheon earlier), even with his slightly damp hair. Hyungwon can only assume it’s because he’s been dancing and sweating.

“Hi, Jooheon.”

Jooheon gives a smile, but it’s not one of his usual smiles. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Hyungwon frowns. “Is something wrong?”

“Just nervous, that’s all,” Jooheon replies cryptically, not expanding on what could possibly be making him nervous. Maybe it’s just that he’s scared to confess to his crush?

Hyungwon is scared to ask. He doesn’t want to hear any more about Jooheon’s crush. It hurts his heart, to be honest.

Neither of them speak, Hyungwon just going back to resting his head on the table.

After a moment, Jooheon speaks up. “It’s really hot in here. Do you want to go outside for a bit?”

Hyungwon doesn’t think it’s hot at all, but who is he to say no to Jooheon? He nods and the two of them make their way outside. They find a bench just outside the hall and sit down on it together. There’s a nice breeze outside.

They lapse into another silence. A comfortable one, because Hyungwon is always comfortable with Jooheon, even when he’s panicking about his crush on him.

Hyungwon leans back slightly on the bench and looks up at the sky. There’s a lot of light pollution, but the stars are still visible in the sky. “The sky is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Jooheon hums and mutters something under his breath that Hyungwon doesn’t quite make out, but if he didn’t know better he’d assume Jooheon had said, “Not as much as you.”

The table they’re sitting at is shaking slightly. Hyungwon frowns at the table, wondering why, when he notices that Jooheon’s bouncing his leg and as it hits against the table it makes it shake.

He must really be nervous to confess to his crush later.

“You know, if you’re this nervous you don’t have to confess to your crush.” Hyungwon doesn’t want to talk about Jooheon’s crush, not at all, but he wants to be a good friend, and if reassurance is what Jooheon needs right now, then Hyungwon is more than happy to provide it.

Jooheon’s head snaps up at the sound of Hyungwon’s voice. “I want to. It’s just a scary thing to do.”

Hyungwon hums in agreement. His failed attempts for the past week at confessing to Jooheon are proof that he knows just how terrifying it can be. Not that he can mention that to Jooheon, of course.

Another silence. There seems to be a lot of those between the two of them tonight.

“Hyungwon?”

Hyungwon tears his eyes away from the sky where he’s been admiring the stars. Jooheon is bright red and chewing on his own lip.

“Hm?”

Jooheon visibly takes a deep breath. He clenches his fists together on top of the table. He closes his eyes, and then says the last words Hyungwon ever expected to hear come out of his mouth.

“You’re my crush.”

Hyungwon’s mind blanks and his whole body freezes. He’s Jooheon’s crush? This whole time, Jooheon’s had a crush on him?

No, that can’t be right. He must’ve heard wrong or something.

But that’s not the case, because Hyungwon heard Jooheon’s words clearly.

“You... like me?” Hyungwon asks, dumbfounded, once he manages to open his mouth to speak.

Jooheon nods, his mouth shut tightly, like he’s afraid to speak.

Hyungwon breathes out a long exhale of relief. “Oh, thank god.”

Now Jooheon frowns at him. “What?”

“I’ve been trying to confess to you all week,” Hyungwon admits. “I thought I blew my chance after I failed because I knew you were going to confess to your crush tonight.” He pauses, feeling shy about being so straightforward with his feelings. “I never would’ve thought I’d be your crush.”

“Are you kidding?” Jooheon looks shocked. “I thought it was so obvious that I liked you.”

“What? I’m the obvious one.”

They both burst into laughter together.

Once the laughter stops, Jooheon asks, “Would you like to dance with me?”

Hyungwon doesn’t even hesistate before he says yes.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos n comments appreciated :3
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
> cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)


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